I saw this sticker on the mirror in a restroom at one of my favorite urban coffee houses:

Patience is certainly a virtue, but unfortunately, not one of mine. So, this was a great reminder. I don’t like the fact that change happens slowly, but it’s usually true. Sigh.

So, I’ve been thinking about this for a few days. But what does being positive really mean to me when I wake up each morning?

I think it involves more than simply being hopeful. Desmond Tutu just wrote a book encouraging us to be hopeful, in which he describes hope as, “…being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”Â Yes. Yin and Yang. I get it. But, then what?

Optimism sounds nice too: “The tendency to expect the best possible outcome.” But some days, that’s not enough for me either.

I like the word positive because it’s more specific. It goes something like this: “Positive thinking is a process of choosing positive emotions from stimuli in the environment and applying them to perceptions and beliefs. The objective is to create an outlook that translates into a new or better chosen reality.”

Now that gives me something to work with! Change Happens Gradually. Stay Positive.